Latest LTTE Attacks In Sri Lanka An Embarrasment To National Defence Needing Immediate Remedying!

Insight By Sunil Kumar For LankaWeb
Oct.28th 2008.

The latest air attacks attributed to the Tamil Tigers on targets in Colombo as well as the North of Sri Lanka is no cause for unmitigated paranoia as the common consensus amongst Military and Air Defence analysts is that Sri Lanka's 'Flying Tiger' guerilla air force will face losses within months" and this is being said with very plausible as well as tangible reasons hopefully.But it does not detract from the stark reality that they are an embarrasment to National Defence
needing immediate remedying!

According to a former Sri Lankan Air Force Wing Commander "The Tamil Tiger guerilla air wing will bear losses before the year", but this being said there can be no further losses nor embarrasments to what is thought by many to be Sri Lanka's elite Air and Ground Defences as the latest attacks simply seem to indicate that our defence boys have in all probabilities been caught napping and there can be no more room for such lapses regardless of the rhetoric which comes out of defence circles.It Simply Is A Huge Embarrasment And There Is No Denying It where optimism and speculations play no real role towards the imperative need!

In a military climate where Sri Lanka's Defence Priorities are etched in stone, it is indeed a loss of face for the Armed Forces even in the smallest measure that the self-styled 'Tamileelam Air Force' has intruded and bombed targets in Government controlled areas including the capital Colombo at least three times already, though the popular line is that "authorities seem to be getting better at detecting the aircraft with each succeeding raid but getting better which is simply not good enough! The current attacks on Tiger targets in Kilinochchi seem to have somehow missed the locations from whence these home made aircraft take off and this either adds further to the chagrin of Armed Forces lapses or points to some uncanny means of camouflage as well as expertise in flying operations which have permitted their brazen leeway of penetration and the means to get away without being brought down!

The responses have to be clinically accurate in searching and destroying the sources from which these attacks originate and they have to be immediate and rapid fire in nature where there seem to be some loose ends and lack of co-ordination towards how and why the terrorists have been able to infiltrate Government Areas and carry out these attacks despite their ineffectivity in any real sense and marginal nature and hopefully a few heads will roll subsequent to inquiries and investigations that need to be carried out in determining who and what was really responsible in order that the terrorists were able to penetrate Sri Lankan defenses and get away with it to moot unless of course there is evidence which may be classified for security reasons attesting to inside collaboration about which there are always the suspicions where even if this be the case it is a huge slur on National Defence!

A recent report by Military analysts in the aftermath of these latest attacks suggests "that Sri Lanka needs to equip its aircraft with air-to-air missiles and airborne target acquisition radar with a suitable fire control system and perhaps other facilities such as forward looking infra-red (FLIR) sensor systems to tackle the Flying Tigers. " and if this even has a semblance of truth to it , it is an oversight as well a reflection on the Massive Military budget towards the task of eliminating the Tigers and a shamefaced admission of an area / areas of neglect which should have been initiated as top priorities and set in place as part of Sri Lankan Defence Strategy long ago rather than have to whistfully speculate about it saying "I do not know whether we have target acquisition radar in all our jets, but given time and money we can fill the gaps," quoting former Sri Lanka Air Force commander Air Marshall Harry Goonetilleke who has informed the media to this effect. In this respect it has to be asserted however if the speculations are accurate that it is better late than never that these effects need to be immediatelyset in place towards fortifying whatever may have been necessary towards an impeccable defense system which were overlooked where no risks can be taken nor any loose ends shrugged off as they violate all the requisites related to National Security and perhaps points merely to bureaucratic bungling!

Nothing seems more apathetic to hear certain military leaders suggest as excuses that related assessments have already been made and the Military has the cognizances of what needs to be done but that it takes some time to get equipment.~~ Not good enough once again as this is an all out offensive being waged against an enemy of the State with elimination as the intended objective and the time to get the necessary equipment and training towards the imperative task should have been a part of Sri Lanka's defense strategy many moons ago and ludicrous lamenting about it this late in the day!

If according to some military experts it typically takes about a year to acquire aircraft under standard government procurement methods but equipment such as radar could be brought in within 3-to-6 months especially if acquisition is speeded up and these requisites have not already been set in place aeons ago considering the length of time the war has persisted. the authorities should hang their heads in shame that as a result of neglect or dumb oversight Sri Lanka's Armed Forces have let themselves open to the ridicule of a miserable albeit cunnigly organized group of terrorists who seem to have more than on one occassion caught them napping!

To suggest further that "Before the end of the year we will see the Tiger aircraft being brought down" as a confident sounding military assurance is something about which the SLAF needs to put their monies where their mouths are as the uncanny euphemism which follows the response from Military sources which has also said that "otherwise there is something seriously wrong with our military." will be deemed very true!